 What's going on and welcome to the MLB DFS Q&A. My name is Tom Vecchio. I am here for the next 30 minutes to take your live questions about tonight's 14-game MLB sleep. Jim Sonets is away today. He's at the FanDuel World Fantasy Baseball Championship in Denver. He will also be off on Monday. That means I will be here live 9am on the FanDuel YouTube page for the solo shot. I also will be here on Monday afternoon taking your questions right here on the FanDuel YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter page. Starting off for tonight's late 14 games in terms of the weather, we are looking pretty good. A few little rain spots here. There are nothing too big of a deal. There's a little bit of wind blowing in and of course this is all from Kevin Roth on Twitter. Some wind blowing in in Colorado, but of course it's cores. We're not really worried about that. So we are in a good spot. We have plenty of pitchers to discuss on tonight's late. We have plenty of hitters to discuss as well. Starting off, let's make sure we've got some lineups here as well. Starting off, DJ on Facebook is saying, Free Gray Gilbert or Miekloss with no pitch count tonight. Yes, of course, the Lizard King aka Miles Miekloss is back for St. Louis. He pitched 85 pitches in his most recent start last Saturday in the minor leagues, so he should be good to go now. Who do we like in that range tonight? You know, I'm always going to be siding with someone like Sonny Gray. You know, we want that strikeout upside. We want that potential ability for him to reach for that fancy ceiling, which we know he has, especially going up against Miami. We're looking at a strikeout rate for some of the pitchers on tonight's late. Sonny Gray is up there at 28.5%. It's the fourth best on tonight's late, yet he's sitting at $8,300. So I'm always going to be taking that high strikeout pitcher given all these options. You know, I think freed is in a fine spot. You know, we do see Baltimore having a little bit more power this season versus lefties compared to versus righties. So at $300 cheaper, excuse me, $600 cheaper down to $8,300, I will certainly take Sonny Gray tonight. Savannah on YouTube is asking best games for offense today. Tonight, obviously we got to be liking the Colorado game. Really not too worried about the pitching on either side. So Colorado and Arizona, of course, it's always viable for a game stack. I wouldn't hate going to the Braves and Orioles for a bit of a game stack here. I know the Orioles are not the best offense in the league, but they certainly do have some more power against lefties compared to versus righties. So those are the first two spots I would be looking at. And then kind of a sneaky spot could be the Jays and the Detroit Tigers game. So yes, we do know that Robbie Ray is a very strong strikeout pitcher. You know, we call it the best on the slate. Of course, Chris sailed the 40% strikeout rate. That's only been through one game. But Robbie Ray does get, you know, beat by the fly balls and the home runs from time to time. So him allowing a couple home runs to some of the Tigers hitters wouldn't be too much of a surprise. Combined with the fact that we will have, I believe, an open roof. Roger Center in Toronto will have an open roof. So boosting that hating environment just a little bit in Toronto. So that's one of the other games I would certainly be looking for some offensive upside tonight. Kyle on YouTube is asking thoughts on McCullers and sending great tonight as cheaper options. Absolutely love both of them. I actually wrote up Lance McCullers today his player prop for his strikeouts for the over seven and a half strikeouts night for McCullers. Now this season McCullers 27.7% strikeout rate certainly very strong. He's going up against the Mariners. They are going up against Reides. Let's make that the active roster. I'll flip to the reason why I'm so interested in McCullers. So if you're asking me to choose between them, I, you know, we're kind of splitting hairs here since they are literally nearly the same salary. Ultimately, I think I would go with McCullers just because he's at home in an AL park compared to Sonny Gray, who's at home in an NL park. So push comes to shove, you know, Sonny Gray could get pulled just due to the fact that, you know, they pull him because he hits his turn in the batting line up, you know, blah, blah, blah, picture still hitting. So I do really like McCullers tonight though. So Seattle third worst in the league right now versus Reides with a 25.2% strikeout rate. Now McCullers, like I said, has a 27.7% strikeout rate on the season, but in recent starts since the All-Star break, we've seen him push this to 41, 33, 29, 32, and 32% strikeout rate. So in five of his six starts since the All-Star break, he's been above his season average. Now he's going up against Seattle who strikes out the third most versus Reides. So yes, I'm interested in the over and his strikeout prop, which I wrote about. I'm interested in McCullers tonight. You know, like I said, push comes to shove. I'll choose McCullers over Gray, but I do think that they're both very, very strong options tonight. Savannah is asking any weather games, any games with weather they should stay away from? No, we're looking at, you know, a few showers here or there. Of course, this Chicago Kansas City game is going on right now. Don't need to worry about that. A few showers, a few showers, few showers, but no major issue. So all green tonight when it comes to whether we are good there. DeFuse on YouTube is asking, how well do the Yankees great out for you tonight? Absolutely awesome. We are looking at a great, great spot for the Yankees. You know, kind of as we saw last night, the twins had John Gantt open up last night. He was just the opener. Really, we're not worried about the Minnesota Twins bullpen overall. So the Yankees should be a priority tonight for a lot of people I know that the Yankees lineup. I mean, one through seven is looking really, really strong. I think you can be legitimately going to any of those options. Going to Velazquez or Gardner would only be options if I'm going for a wrap around stack. You know, going like eight, nine, one, two, eight, nine, two, three, something like that. And you need the Sally relief, especially if you are paying up for a pitcher. You know, get into one of these top tier pitchers, you know, like sale, Bueller or Ray. I mean, we're dealing with not a whole lot average per player remaining. Then if you try and add in some of these, you know, expensive Yankees hitters, it drops it down immediately. So this is, you know, the kind of situation where I would look to add in of Velazquez or of Rick Gardner simply for the Sally relief and do a wrap around stack, because there are some very, very expensive pitchers on tonight's list. The Yankees are absolutely a priority for me on tonight's slate. Salvatore on YouTube is asking Austin Gomber in GPPs. You know, Gomber is a pitcher. I understand he's, you know, he said to be back that despite this injured designation, he said to be back tonight. But like the GPPs tonight, if you really, really need to go there at that salary range, I think it's acceptable. Obviously, we're just hoping that no one else is on him. And he's just far, far under the radar. You know, I wouldn't hate taking a shot with Brett Anderson ahead of him. But I understand if you're going to Gomber, it is a viable tournament option. He did look strong at certain parts earlier this season. What's the status of Arizona and their new law allowing sports betting? That's not a question I can particularly answer. I don't know if it's fully like it's from my understanding, it's like legal, but it's not like fully turned on yet. Like it's not been launched. That's something you'd have to look at when it comes to the state regulations or I assume there will be some big announcement. That's a question I have on tonight, a specific answer for tonight's late. DJ is asking thoughts on Rufaldo Castro tonight. I don't, are you talking about as a hitter? I don't go too deep into the specific players when it comes to most slates. I understand that if you need this out of relief, like you can certainly go to him. But like I more morally focus on going to teams as stacks, like going to a player level is not something that I dig down to too much. If you were saying, oh, I need salary relief at the shortstop position and you need $2,200 of salary relief at the shortstop position. I think that would be an easier question or just like a broader question to attack. I would go with Jose Iglesias. If you have $2,300, I don't think that Sam Hench is for Cleveland. Is that good picture? He has the platoon advantage against him. So if you need this out of relief, I have a little bit of interest in the angels. I go into them as a stack overall. But again, I don't go like super deep into a player by player level. It's more about the team overall and I'm willing to attack them. Savanna is asking, can you rank Seattle? Seattle, excuse me, St. Louis team for me tonight. St. Louis at home. I think that they are certainly a viable option. Go against Mitch Keller. Keller is not a pitcher that I'm really too worried about overall. Let's see if St. Louis's lineup has been confirmed. Pirates, Diamondbacks, Nationals, Orioles, Astros. Do we have the Cardinals tonight? Are the Cardinals confirmed? They are confirmed. All right, Cardinals here. Pretty standard lineup for them. Obviously, if you have the salary available, of course, getting to Aeronado or Goldschmidt are the easiest answers. But Harrison Bader has some really nice pop, especially being under $3,000, some serious homerun upside. So I would rank Aeronado, Goldschmidt, 1-2. Then I would go Bader, O'Neill, Edmund, and then Yachty, dipping down a little bit further into their lineup. Bader, I think, makes a lot of sense. I don't love them batting 8th in lineup, but it is what it is for a player who's $2,800. Stacking the angels versus henches. Yeah, I just mentioned that. I have some interest in the angels tonight going up against Sam henches for the Cleveland Indians slash Cleveland Guardians, whatever you want to call them. A pitcher that allows too many homeruns where is he? Or too many fly balls? Hentches right here. Let's look at some of his splits. Obviously, not the largest sample size this first year in the Major is only 48.2 innings pitched this year. But too many homeruns for him, specifically versus right handed hitters, but a 5.44 ex-fib, a 4.77 ex-fib versus lefties and righties is not something I'm really too worried about. Too many fly balls versus lefties. He's yet to see that translate into a lot of homeruns versus lefties. So really overall, I'm interested in the angels. Like I said, they also shouldn't be too popular in the grand scheme of tonight's slate. Like they're sitting down with a 4.86 implied run total, which I think is certainly great, but they are clearly a tier below some of these top teams. So the angels as a stack is a spot that I do have interest in tonight. Kenneth on YouTube is asking, how do you feel about the White Sox against Waka? I wrote about Jose Ebreu tonight as potentially under the radar option going up against Michael Waka because I do not think he is a good pitcher. So the White Sox are yet another team that I have kind of in this second tier. I think they're 16th on the slate, 4.41 implied run total tonight. That's 16th on tonight's slate. This is no man's land, right? And we look at Waka's stats this year. We look at his splits. Like he's allowing way, way too many homeruns to righties. 2.15, excuse me, versus righties this season despite the fact that he's a right-handed pitcher. You know, 36, 34% fly ball rate aren't horrible, but a 48% hard contact rate allowed versus right-handed hitters and a 21.8% homerun to fly ball ratio. Way, way too much hard contact versus righties combined with the fact that he's not a big strikeout pitcher. All right, so he's not a pitcher that I'm necessarily afraid of in any capacity. So going to the White Sox, a righty stack for them I think is certainly in play tonight. Like I said, I wrote up Jose Abreu. So he would be my top option from the White Sox tonight. You'd of course go to any of their hitters tonight. I don't think they're going to be super popular especially given their salaries. I think that shifting some of those salaries the high $3,000 range to a team like the Yankees, is very easy to shift them and everyone's going to be looking towards Yankees. That's why I like the White Sox as an under the radar option. How would you rank Milwaukee tonight? I think Milwaukee's an absolutely fantastic spot. I think that we should be going to multiple of the right-handed hitters going up against Patrick Corbin. Let's just give this a refresh to see if their lineup is confirmed. Corbin allows way, way too many homeruns this season versus right-handed hitters. I actually wrote up Avicel Garcia as a homerun for a homerun prop tonight. See, do we have the Brewers updated a lineup or the confirmed lineup? I should say Red Sox, Rays, Cardinals, Tigers. I don't think we have the Brewers yet but the right-handed hitters from the Brewers tonight are in a phenomenal spot. I think that we should be looking to multiple options. I think that the Brewers are really looking to be one of my favorite stacks on tonight's slate outside of that course field and probably outside of Yankees. 2.41 homeruns per night of 478 x5. He's got a 16.9% strikeout rate. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of. He's getting burned by homeruns time and time again this year. So if I'm ranking them, Avicel Garcia is probably one of my top overall options followed by Escobar, followed by William Dames. I think you can be going to those three as the core three right-handed stack from Washington. Of course, looking to adding Yellich, I don't think, you know, he should be super, super popular tonight. And then ultimately, if we see Corbin pulled from the game and they bring in a right-handed pitcher to go up against some of these righties from the Brewers, Yellich would have the platoon split at that point. So Garcia, Escobar, Dames, Yellich in that order are my top four for the Brewers. If you need this out of relief, you can certainly drop down and take Manny Pina at 2,200. Should not be popular. Really bringing you some saving. Salvatore on YouTube is asking top two stacks to play in GVPs tonight. The Braves are just really just in a phenomenal spot. I would say if we're accounting for everything, salary, how popular these teams gonna be, et cetera, et cetera, I'd be willing to fade the Rockies if you're going with like a single entry. I would actually be willing to go to the Braves and the Yankees tonight, the Braves and the Reds tonight as two of my top overall stacks. If you can't afford the Yankees and the Braves, that's where I'd go like Braves, Brewers, Braves, Reds, something around there. I think that really we are in a spot tonight to see a lot of offense from like six or seven different teams, the Rockies, the Yankees, the Braves, the Reds, the Brewers and the Blue Jays. Like all of these teams, if you told me, you know, wake up tomorrow morning and four, five, six of these teams all had three, four home runs, I'm not gonna be shocked at all like that's the kind of slate I think we're on board for, which is just a lot of scoring pictures to target tonight as in target as in rostering or to target against because we have a loaded loaded top tier when it comes to really these top four pictures. Now we could break them up a little bit in terms of ranking them. I think Ray's in a great spot. Like I said, he does allow some fly balls. He does allow some home runs. That's of course been his kind of his ML throughout his career when he was with especially with the Diamond backs, a lot of strikeouts from him can potentially be a lot of home runs as well. Chris Sale, I think is of course a phenomenal option. 10.7 we saw what he can do or remembered what he can do in that first start against Baltimore. He only pitched five innings in that game, but Boston was up like 10-1 or 10-2 or 8-2 or whatever it was. He did pitch 89 pitches in that start. So, you know, he was right at where he should be. I don't think they pushed him out there into the 16 just because they didn't have to. So I'm fully on board with Chris Sale tonight, not worried about his pitch count target pitchers against Saban is asking really tonight's late. I think we're going to see a lot of home runs. So targeting against Keegan-Akin with Atlanta. I think it's totally fine targeting of course against Tyler Gilbert in Colorado is fine. Tyler Alexander for Toronto. I think is also certainly fine and then Matt Moore. Matt Moore is not a good pitcher. I don't care what he's been doing recently. That's why I have the Padres brought up here. I have a ton of interest in the Padres tonight. They are this team. I think it could potentially be going overlooked as a stack over on that. Of course, you know, Tatis Machado, some of these players can always be popular, but Matt Moore, 2.06 home runs per nine versus righties with a 510X fit, you know, 1.59 versus lefties. This is not something we need to be afraid of. This is something we actively want to be targeting a 44% fly ball rate and 36.1% hard contact rate versus righties. I am all over the Padres time. This is the team. I guess I forgot to mention when it comes to some of these top teams, but I have a ton of interest in the Padres team. All of their power hitters, Tatis, Cronenworth, Grisham, Machado, all firmly, firmly in play tonight. I think we should be looking to attack Matt Moore, attack Keegan-Akin with Atlanta, go to the Reds going up against Hernandez. I am fully on board. Who else would you stack with San Diego with Cronenworth and Tatis with 6900 left? This is a perfect question from DJ on Facebook. So specifically from San Diego, do we have their lineup? Times it's 417 might be a little bit early to get some of these West Coast lineups. Let's see if we have them. So we don't have the Padres yet, but yes, they are in a good spot. So you have Cronenworth and Tatis as your mean to 6900 left for them. Okay. Obviously it depends on what their confirmed lineup looks like, but like if you could get Will Meyers in there, that would be great. If you need obviously taking NOLA is fine. It really comes down to how much salary if you're willing to go to a one-off and just take three Padres and go to a one-off from another team. That's a little bit cheaper. You obviously don't have the salary to pay up for Machado clearly, but Meyers, NOLA and then Frazier in that order is how I would target them. You know, if you want to go with full four-man stack, you have to take Jake Moriznik at 2,900. That's also fine. It's just getting exposure to the larger stack overall, but Meyers, NOLA Frazier in that order if I could choose any of them. I think we have some great one-offs tonight. I absolutely agree. Salvatore on YouTube, like I said, this is a slate where I'm expecting a lot of home runs. Atlanta, New York, Toronto, Cincinnati, the White Sox as I just mentioned, Milwaukee, I think all and then of course the Game and Course field and San Diego like we are in a spot to see a lot of home runs tonight. If I had to pick some from each individual team, I think that going to Soler at 3,300 is an overly expensive. He obviously has a massive fly ball numbers along with Adam Duvall. Both these players right at the same salary. I think you could be certainly looking there from the Yankees. Obviously, they're certainly a bit more expensive, but Gary Sanchez $2,500 is very, very affordable. I think that's certainly in play from the Blue Jays for some salary relief. Gritchix $2,500 and Gurriel is also only 3,000. They have some serious pop. There's a clear like gap between the top tier from the Blue Jays over 4,000 all the way down to 3,700 and then dropping immediately to 3,000. So the Blue Jays are also a very clear option tonight. And then from the Reds tonight, I think the Reds are in a great spot tonight, probably going a little bit overlooked and the Reds are one of those teams like when they get the home runs flowing, they are in they're just like nonstop. So the answer for me tonight would be Mustakas. And I do think Mustakas himself is going to be popular because he's $2,500 in the split against Hernandez. But I don't think a larger Red stack is going to be that popular in a vacuum. Luke Voigt or Gary Sanchez from Diffuse on YouTube in a vacuum. Luke Voigt or Gary Sanchez it voids in the lineup. I would take Luke Voigt higher in the lineup only by two the $400. I don't think he's that big of a difference and Voigt is playing with like that, you know, kind of got a proven mentality, you know, like Rizzo coming back all these sorts of things like he has to kind of prove it, you know, get his spot in the lineup. It's like that whole if you want to play that storyline but I would just take Voigt over Sanchez higher in the lineup, you know, the chance that he back one more time is just slightly greater because obviously they're winning in the ninth they lose that opportunity first short and utility DJ is asking on a Facebook area for like a utility player for salary. Is that what you're asking? Like do you have a salary range that you would be looking for that would be a little bit easier. Like my I mean, if I do have Tati stunt that would be great if you could afford to pay for his $4,500 salary. Same thing, of course, is also great story. Like all these are fantastic options, but if you have a salary range upgrade, if you need a little bit savings going to Dan's B Swanson, getting part of a brave stack would also be phenomenal. I think that's fine. And then Kyle Farmer $3,100 for the reds. Like I said, certainly an option Voigt or Gurriel one off Salvatore on YouTube is asking. I would take Gurriel, you know, I think he's you know, certainly a viable option to think $3,000 of very fair as this flies in my face. I mean, it's a very fair salary to pay for him on tonight's late. I like what he's been doing lately. Of course, go for Voigt if you need like the little bit of salary relief, but I would go Gurriel. I think that we do see a lot of homeruns from Toronto. So other options on tonight's late that I've been looking at, like I said, the Padres in terms of pitchers want to drop down a little bit. You need some salary relief. I do have a little bit of interest in me close tonight as I wrote him up today as potentially under the radar option, you know, $7,000 obviously brings a whole lot of salary savings to your lineup allows you to pay up for any stack or any two stacks that you want. And like I said, he pitched 85 pitches in his most recent rehab start last Saturday. So he really should be in a good spot. He's going up against the pirates, obviously a team that we're not worried about overall middle of the league when it comes to their strikeout rates sitting at 23.6%, but a team that offers very, very little offense. Right in 82 WRC plus versus righties right now. That's 27th only. And then we look to some of their hard contact numbers. I think it's 29% 29.9% for Pittsburgh, the second worst in the league. Like we are looking at like the perfect landing spot for a pitcher where's Pittsburgh 34.7% fly ball ratio versus, excuse me, 34.7% fly ball rate versus righties. Like this is the ideal landing spot for a pitcher coming back from an injury like the lizard King Miles Michalos. So I like them tonight at $7,000. DJ was saying for the San Diego question, first shore and utility. Oh, for San Diego, like those players ranked, I would if you can pay up for Cronenworth at 4,300. I think that's obviously the ideal option. Tatis if you can get there and then it comes down to just how much salary you have left for utility by getting to getting to Machado, of course would be great, but you know, paying up for multiple players above $4,000. If you're already looking to roster Tatis and Cronenworth is very, very difficult, especially you know what you're looking for secondary stack where you're looking at pitching. That's the only time like Nola and Marisnik would come into play for, you know, for me when I'm looking to stack San Diego from trying to stack San Diego, it'd be really trying to jam in these four top hitters that are all above $4,000. Obviously, that doesn't leave you with a whole lot of salary left, especially if you're trying to pay up for pitching. If you just want to like roll with Robbie Ray, like you were 2200 per player is not a lot left. That's where I dropped down and have some interest in gray, have some interest in the colors just to provide a little bit of salary relief. And then if you want to drop all the way down, this is where Miquela's comes into play because then you're working with a good amount of salary relief. This is where you could look to a potential Yankee stack right and do a wrap around with Velazquez, you move Tatis back to shortstop. You go to Velazquez at third base, like that's where you get the potential salary relief from Yankees. If you're looking to do a wrap around stack, so you could take Gardner and Velazquez at the bottom of their lineup and then look to add in some of the top two, three hitters from their lineup for that power upside, hoping we get what we saw from Velazquez last night. The Nationals tonight, I saw some people talking about them or just saw the Nationals I should say as a conversation, potentially an option tonight on Twitter, not really a spot that I'm particularly interested in. Just their lineup isn't that strong overall. We also know that Milwaukee has a very, very solid bullpen. Some, I guess that the Orioles have some power in their bats specifically against lefties. So you want to hunt for home runs with the Orioles going to Mancini, Mount Castle, some of these players. I think that's certainly a viable option specifically for tournaments. Hayes going to Mullins, Mount Castle, Mancini, like taking a shot on them would only be an option. Like as I'm expanding the player pool, making more and more lineups. But if you're making five or ten lineups, like the Orioles shouldn't be a team that makes the cut. You would stick to the Braves, the Yankees, Toronto, Cincinnati, you know, Milwaukee, the Chorus Field game, San Diego, these sorts of teams should be like your core teams tonight for building your lineups. Again, I think that tonight's late that we're in a spot to see a whole lot of offense from however many of these teams, five, six, seven of these teams, Colorado, I would say both teams in the Colorado game. I know that the Diamondbacks right now aren't grading out super high, but they still should be in a good spot. Rockies, Yankees, Braves, Blue Jays, Reds, Brewers, Padres, like there can be multiple teams tonight that hit three, four, five home runs. Like and that's what you want to see where you have your core stack, having a lot of those home runs, your secondary stack provides a little bit of salary relief along with some upside and then obviously hunting for some one offs for also home run upside. John Brown, maybe it's the bill's receiver on YouTube is asking how do you feel about the Dodgers night? The Dodgers I think are a good team tonight or the Dodgers are a good team any night. Let's just put it like that. So the Dodgers, you know, against Carrasco we obviously haven't seen a whole lot of good from him in the starts that he's made. The Dodgers are a team that I always have like a good amount of interest in. It's just how much interest that I have them in them with their salaries compared to other teams that I think are in a better spots, you know, slightly better spots. Of course, the Dodgers can score 10 runs any night given the power in their lineup. I actually think that the Dodgers should be less popular than some of the more expensive teams than the Yankees, then Toronto, some of these chalkier teams than Atlanta. So that I have interest in them when it comes to just digging deeper into the player pool and expanding my stack pool when it comes to tournaments. So I think that they're in a fine spot tonight. It's just I don't think that they're in as amazing of a spot as Toronto or as amazing of a spot as the Yankees, if that makes it clear. So I'm fine with the Dodgers. I'm basically every single night. It's just like half a step behind some of these other top tier teams stack at the Los Angeles. Angels, yeah, as I mentioned before, Hentges is not a player or not a player, not a pitcher that I'm particularly worried about. He's giving up too many home runs. The Angels also aren't a team that I am expecting to be too popular tonight. And more importantly for the Angels, I think that they make like that perfect secondary stack because yeah, you'd love to pay up for Otani tonight, but he's 4,500. Jared Walsh is 2,900, the next most expensive option. So it's not I don't love fading Otani, especially from going to the Angels of course, one of maybe the only player in their lineup that has like multi home run upside, but Walsh, Stasi and Upton do have some nice home run upside and I'd be willing to go them as a secondary stack because their salaries are so affordable tonight. So I kind of mentioned the Angels a little bit earlier and going to them against Hentges and I think that is like totally, totally a viable option tonight. Again, should not be super popular. Just given the context of this 14 game slate. All right, so that does it for today. We have a great slate. A lot of home runs. I'm expecting on tonight's slate. I'll be back on Monday morning for the solo shot right here on the Faneville YouTube page. I'll be back on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. to take your questions here on the Faneville YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter page. Make sure you are like follow subscribe up there so you get the notifications when we go live. You can follow me on Twitter at dfs underscore Tom till next time. Good luck in your contest.